A penniless second son, Darius Lindsey has been seeing to the pleasure of ladies for coin, but he’s getting more desperate every day.  Then he receives a most unusual request – William Longstreet has lost both of his sons and his first wife.  Now the aging Lord needs an heir.  If Darius can get the new, and young, Lady Longstreet pregnant, all of his financial problems will be over.  But can Darius resist the pretty young wife and find a way out with his heart intact?

I was a little hesitant about reading Darius.  I wasn’t sure how appealing a whore of a hero would actually be … oh, how I underestimated Grace Burrowes.  As is right, the story is mainly about the man it is named after.  We are given Vivian’s side too but the heart of the story is all Darius.  He is an amazing man – a good man who has to do questionable things.  And he does these desperate things without completely giving up his honor, solely for the people he loves and is responsible for.  He’s a strong man, but one that needs the love and attention that only a woman who loves him can provide.  He’s dedicated to his family and staff, and those are the people that he sacrifices so much for.  We’re given hints and innuendo to what he suffered (and his siblings suffer) at the hands of his father, with just enough details to make it heartbreaking.  We’re also shown exactly what he has to do to earn his keep and the fact that he is treated in such a way, after everything he does for others, just breaks my heart.

This is the first in Burrowes’s “Lonely Lords” series and I am very much looking forward to the rest.  Keep an eye out because there will be a review of Nicholas, the next book, here in the next handful of weeks.  Readers will get a peek at what is coming as Nicholas marries Darius’s sister in Darius.  Nicholas looks to be just as touching a character as Darius and I can’t wait to find out.